Master of Arts in Social Work (Mental Health)

Location: Chennai (Banyan)

Intake: 20

Eligibility

a) Programme require completion of Bachelor's Degree of minimum of 3 years duration or its equivalent ( under the 10+2+3 or 10+2+4 or 10+2+2+1 year bridge course pattern of study or any other pattern fulfilling the mandatory requirements of 15 years formal education) from a recognised university, in any discipline.

b) At the time of applying candidates studying in 3 year degree programme should have passed in all the subjects for the 1st to 4th semesters and candidates studying in 4 year degree progrmmes should have passed in all the subjects for 1st to 6th semester.

c) Only those Candidates who will be able to complete all the requirements of their final year Bachelor's Degree examinations by Saturday, June 02, 2018 are eligible to apply to all the programme.

Till the time the candidate submit results of the final year degree examination, admission to any of the Master's Degree Programmes of the Institute will be provisional. The results of the final examination have to be submitted before September 29, 2018. Those who fail to do so the provisional admission stands canceled.

Master of Arts in Social Work (Mental Health) problems are amongst the most important contributors to the global burden of disease and disability. The Global Burden of Disease world over due to mental health concerns is greater than that expected by tuberculosis, cancer or heart disease. In the year 2000, mental and neurological conditions accounted for 12.3% of disability-adjusted years lost globally and 31% of all years lived with disability at all ages and in both sexes. Of the top 10 health conditions contributing to disability adjusted life years, four are mental disorders. Mental and behavioural disorders affect more than 25% of people at any given point of time. This means 450 million people worldwide are affected by mental, neurological or behavioral problems at any given point of time. In India, about 20 to 30 million people appear to be in need of mental health care. A meta-analysis of 13 epidemiological studies concluded that the prevalence estimate of mental health problems is 58.2 per 1,000 population. The study indicated that mental disorders were higher in urban areas, among women, in the age group of 35–44 years and in the lower socio-economic strata. The study concluded that in India nearly 1.5 million people suffer from severe mental disorders and 5.7 million suffer from various psychiatric disorders requiring immediate attention.

Compared to this huge need, there are about 3,500 psychiatrists, 1,000 psychiatric social workers, 1,000 clinical psychologists and 900 psychiatric nurses in the country. The recent Atlas project of the WHO reports that all countries in South East Asian region and nearly all countries in Africa have less than one psychiatrist for a population of one lakh. The population of India, exceeding one billion people, has access to less than 4,000 psychiatrists as compared to the nearly 80,000 psychiatrists for 840 million in Europe. The National Mental Health Programme (NMHP) in India was launched in 1982 and aimed at providing minimum mental health care to maximum through integration of mental health services within the existing health care system. This ambitious NMHP failed to achieve any of its targets over the subsequent decades. In early 2001, the NMHP was radically revamped. It was re-launched as part of the Tenth Five-Year Plan (2002–2007) and the budgetary allocation was increased more than seven-fold. However, lack of trained professionals and administrative structures have been responsible for the inability of the programme to take off. It is in the context of this gap between the magnitude of mental health problems and the lack of services, and trained professionals to address it that the M.A. Social Work in Mental Health finds its relevance.

With rapid social change and urbanisation, there are several vulnerable groups whose mental health concerns need urgent attention. Some examples include, urban poor living on the streets and slums, women and children exposed to domestic violence, populations displaced by mega development projects, single women, sexual minorities, people living with HIV/AIDS, and so on. In order to be able to comprehend the mental health concerns of these groups, it is vital to move beyond our thinking in the mental health sector and conceptualise training programmes as well as service models that integrate the biological, psychological and interpersonal with the social and the cultural. Thus, a training/teaching programme that combines ideas of social justice and empowerment along with the knowledge and skills to understand individual and interpersonal distress and problems is a need of the hour. This postgraduate programme with a foundation in social work and an incremental training in perspectives and skills in mental health aims to fill this gap.

This programme equips students to work in various capacities at government and non-governmental settings.

Distribution of Credit Hours:

Distribution of Credit Hours

Year

Detail

Credits

First

Foundation Courses

6

Philosophy of Research

1

Core Social Work Courses

16

Programme Courses

4/6*

Fieldwork

12

Second

Programme Courses

16/18*

Research Project

6

Choice Based Credit Courses

8

Fieldwork

12

TotalCredits

83

*The number of credits over the year may vary across programmes due to difference in placement of programme specific courses.

Semesterwise Courses:

Semester-wise Listing of Courses

Semester

Course Code

Course Title

Credits

I

FC

Foundation Course

6

Philosophy of Research

1

SW 1.1

Social Group Work

2

SW 1.2

Social Case Work

2

SW 2

History and Perspectives of Social Work

2

SW 5

Research Methods I

2

HMH 01

Introduction to Health and Mental Health

2

2

II

SW 4

Community Organisation

2

SW 06

Social Welfare Organisation

2

SW 07

Critical Perspective on Social work ( Introduction to Social Theories)

2

SW 08

Research Methods II

2

HMH 02

Social Sciences and Health

2

HMH 03

Health and Development

2

Field Work

12

III

SW 09

Social Policy and Planning

MH 3

Mental Health, Marginalisation and Human Rights

2

MH 4

Seminar in Clinical Social Work

2

MH 5

Mental Health Policy, Programmes and Legislations

2

PH 5

Epidemiology and Biostatistics

2

SW9

Social Policy and Planning

2

HMH 04

Social Action, Networking and Advocacy

Field Work

6

IV

MH 6

Counselling and Therapeutic Interventions

4

RP

Research Project

6

FW

Field Work

12

Fee Structure:

Components

MH

Fees

Sem I

Sem II

Sem III

Sem IV

FEE

Tuition Fee

12000

12000

12000

12000

Examination Fee

800

800

800

800

Medical Examination Fee

100

0

0

0

CHARGES

Field Work Charges

4000

4000

4000

4000

Computer Charges

1000

1000

1000

1000

Convocation Charges

0

0

0

2000

ID Card Charges

300

0

0

0

FUNDS

Students' Competency Fund

0

0

0

Internship Fund

0

0

0

0

Lab Charges / Studio Fund

0

0

0

0

Dev. Fund / Prog. Fund

8000

8000

0

0

Students' Union Fund

500

500

500

500

Medical Insurance Fund

1500

0

1500

0

DEPOSITS & ADVANCES

A) Caution Deposits (Refundable at the time of exit from programme on submission of No Dues Certificate)